Listening to Dryandra Woodland
Simon Charles, Josten Myburgh & Katie West

Dryandra Woodland is a unique habitat on Noongar Wiilman boodja, home to endangered species such as the numbat and woylie, and a predator-proof area for boodies, malas and bilbies. This small woodland sits like an island within the vast sea of the western wheatbelt—the largest land clearing event in history.
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Listening to Dryandra Woodland is an expansive, video-captioned sound installation, representing accumulated efforts to foster relationships within this place. Over five hours of recordings comprising conversations, music, and field recording, are assembled generatively in a piece situated somewhere between documentary and installation. 

Dyed fabrics hang in the room, imbued with the woodland’s shapes and colours, as these recordings are sounded by four speakers and tactile vibrations.

Listening to Dryandra Woodland was commissioned by Liquid Architecture, and has been supported by Tone List and the Western Australian government through the Department of Local Government, Sports and Cultural Industries. It was exhibited at Cool Change Contemporary in 2021 as part of the Audible Edge Festival of Sound. The artists acknowledge the Wiilman Noongar people as the custodians of Dryandra Woodlands, and would also like to thank the woodland caretakers, John and Lisa, and sonic contributors Jim Denley and Dale Gorfinkel.

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